Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Fri Feb 7 06:15:00 2003

I have four girls on my travel team that swing 34" bats. None of them "cast" their bats. When you have good disciple to keep your hands close to your body with your turn you can swing it really well. Coach Candrea lets them swing 34" bats because they can - not because he can't find shorter ones. There are shorter and lighter bats in any number of manufacturers that sponsor the college teams. My daugher is 15 and swings a 34" 27oz. bat and hit .476 over our fall-ball season. You just have to be in control of your body.Again, they hear they can't and usually don't get coached to try. It's a shame.
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You make some good points and I agree, to a point. However proper bat length should be somewhat relative to a player's height. A 5'1" girl is going to have some problems with a 34" bat regardless of bat weight.
What started this discussion was a search for shorter (31', 32") bats that are not super light.
As I said, I found a 32" 23.5 oz Worth bat for my daughter. She could probably swing a 26 or 27 oz bat pretty effectively, but not at 34". I think she'd have an easier time adding weight to the bat, than length at her height.
How tall is your daughter? How tall are the 4 girls using 34" bats?

By the way, "Coach Candrea lets them swing 34" bats because they can" may be true, but his girls are generally taller so he/they can get away with that more easily. Candrea didn't say that he only allows them to use 34" bats. He said he didn't know of a source for shorter, 'heavy' fps bats, then said that his girsl used the 34" ones...